State’s cultural institutions reach wide to enrich lives of needy

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The Globe is right to praise the Boston Children’s Museum for efforts to make its programs more affordable to low-income families. (“Children’s Museum: Opening its doors wider,” Editorial, Feb. 12). But the editorial implied that this effort is rare for our nonprofit cultural institutions. In fact, the opposite is true, according to the Massachusetts Cultural Data Project.

Last year the roughly 400 arts, humanities, and science organizations funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council provided a combined 18 million free admissions, project data show. They served more than 3.6 million schoolchildren with quality education programs, in many cases providing creative learning opportunities that have disappeared from our schools.

Admissions and ticket fees rarely cover the costs of core programs, let alone special outreach to underserved communities. These organizations are going the extra mile every day to enrich the lives of the people of the Commonwealth. They deserve our support.